The 1st Arab Statistical Conference
Date: 12-13 November 2007
Venue: Amman - Jordan

The First Arab Statistical Conference (FASC) was organized by the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) in cooperation with the Department of Statistics in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and held in Amman, Jordan on 12-13 November, 2007. The objectives of the Conference were to underline the importance of good quality and professional statistical work for the Statisticians, emphasize the role of the National Statistical Organizations (NSOs) and highlight the need for Statistical Capacity Building.

The Centre has been represented at the Conference by Dr. Savas Alpay, the Director General of the Centre, Dr. Sıdıka Başçı, Acting Director of Statistics and Information Department, and Mr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher. In the plenary session of the Conference, Dr. Savas Alpay made a presentation entitled "Statistical Capacity Building: View on the Developing OIC Member Countries". In his presentation, Dr. Alpay informed the participants of the previous and upcoming statistical activities of the Centre. He also highlighted the improvements related to the BASEIND database project of the Centre, which involves a new software system that enables easy data collection and dissemination by the NSOs of the member countries. He also briefly summarised the completed training programmes of the Centre in 2007 and the planned ones in 2008. Dr. Alpay concluded his presentation by introducing the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) for the OIC Member Countries.

During the Conference, SESRTCIC delegation made some important contacts with the representatives of the IMF, AITRS and other international institutions, where they exchanged views on enhancing the cooperation between the Centre and these institutions in the field of statistics.